Dan VanderKooi

Dan VK has been following the Michigan Craft Beer scene since before Oberon has been available in 6-packs. Besides making the rounds at all the local craft breweries and beer bars, Dan also supports the local music scene, reads crime fiction, and enjoys playing volleyball with his wife and friends.

With occasional light rain and cooler temperatures, this year’s Burning Foot Beer Festival may not have fully lived up to the name, but that’s o.k. because the thousands who attended the sold out beach festival had no complaints as it certainly delivered on the beer. Over 35 of the best lakeshore and surrounding breweries brought to Pere Marquette beach in Muskegon well over a hundred different beers including many new to the area. Add to the mix great local and national bands, amazing beer-influenced food, and the beautiful beach and the result is a success.

Arktos Meadery which began distributing their award-winning meads in Grand Rapids last summer has now opened their tasting room on Grand Rapids southwest side. The location is at 1251 Century Avenue SW where an office suite has been converted into an authentic style mead hall. The grand opening was held on Saturday, August 15th with a full variety of both draft and bottled mead available and complimentary food. Owner and meadmaker Maciej Halaczkiewicz hosted a preview of the tasting room for Goblet Club members an hour prior to the official opening at 4 p.m.

Dutch Girl Brewery opened this past July in Spring Lake directly across the street from Vander Mill Cidery on M-104 / Cleveland St. near 148th Ave. The Grand Opening featured a day of prize giveaways including Mug Club memberships, T-shirts, glassware, hats, and growlers. Kelly and Luke Finchem are the couple behind Dutch Girl with Kelly’s heritage and love of craft beer being the inspiration for the name. Also on board is head “beer maker” Josh Lentz who has worked previously with Founders, North Peak, and the FIlling Station.

July 18th was the date for Tapistry Brewing’s second anniversary celebration in southwest Michigan’s City of Bridgman. The event featured a full music lineup from the afternoon into the evening with vintage and barrel age tap releases along with special bottle releases and a special anniversary food menu including birthday cake. The celebration was preceded by a mug member-only exclusive buffet a full hour ahead of the 11 a.m. public opening of the brewery.

Arclight Brewing Company in Watervliet recently celebrated their one year anniversary with an all day extravaganza which included a limited bottle release and commemorative merchandise. The brewery which first opened on July 21st of 2014 chose to celebrate this year’s anniversary on Saturday, July 25th. Special releases included American Sour Ales barrel aged for one year as well as t-shirts printed with the date of the anniversary celebration. Arclight also recently opened up a new patio with a hop garden behind the brewery.

Portland’s first ever Beerfest on the Bridge took place on August 1st, 2015 from 3:00 p.m. until 8 p.m. on the historic Veterans Memorial bridge built in 1890. The event featured 12 Michigan breweries and 2 cideries together along with live music and local food vendors. Advance tickets were $30 ($35 at the door) and included a commemorative tasting glass with 10 tickets good for 3 oz pours. A limited quantity of $40 VIP tickets were also available which allowed early entry at 2 p.m. and a total of 20 tasting tickets.

Holland’s Macatawa Ale Company held their soft opening back in March. Since then the brewery has been busy slowly but surely focussing on building and developing a solid lineup of mainstay and seasonal beers. The location is 102 S River Ave with ample parking off 4th Street is just a pub crawl away from downtown Holland. The brewery was founded by brothers Ed & Jeff Westerlund along with Ed’s son Andrew. Ed began homebrewing kitchen style approximately 25 years ago prior to upgrading to garage-scale nano brews with Macatawa’s 3 barrel system a natural progression.

This year’s Taste of Muskegon took place in Hackley Park downtown with food vendors, live music, local beer, and a chance to vote for the year’s coveted People’s Choice award. Featured breweries on tap included Fetch Brewing of Whitehall, as well as Pigeon HIll and Unruly Brewing both in downtown Muskegon. Not only were these breweries present on tap, but also many of this year’s winning food vendors had connection to the local brewery scene.

Starving Artist Brewing Co. is Ludington’s newest brewery with a small production-only facility run by founder Andrew Thomas. The brewery has been unveiling their small batch beers via self-distribution at bars and restaurants around town debuting their first four beers with a launch party with live music and food pairings on the rooftop deck of the Blu Moon Bistro. The new brewery was well received with all of their initial offerings selling out by the party’s end.

2015 is shaping up to be another great year for Odd Side Ales brewery located in the Story & Clark Piano Factory in downtown Grand Haven. Not only has the brewery been celebrating it’s 5th-year anniversary this year, but also has recently relocated the production facility, doubling the size, and expanded and remodeled the pub location as well. When the pub first opened in March of 2010, all of the production was done on-site. Increased demand first lead to off-site production in 2012 which included their own bottling line. This represents the 3rd location for production in Odd Side Ales’ 5+ years with the original pub brewery still in use for brewing small batch releases.